Imagine a classroom where students read and write daily journals that will later be transformed into a polished paper published on the Internet. Students collaborate on solving a problem, maintain contents and resources online, receive teacher feedback online, view, listen, share videos, and podcasts on their project work, or just discuss their school project, homework, complete their notes and share among an entire school. All these are just a few examples of how Web 2.0 can be used to enhance learning.
Education 2.0 happens when Web 2.0 technologies – blogs, podcasts, wiki, social networking, and even gaming – are used to enhance traditional approaches. It is about how we use the Web as opposed to what it is. While Web 1.0 was all about one-to-many communication without really any interaction, Web 2.0 is the participatory Web that emphasises collaboration, sharing, and community. Unfortunately, established Web 2.0 education projects are popular overseas, but not here.
There are millions of ideas floating around, each of which are being reinvented and bettered than the versions before them. The entire system of education as we know it, has changed. Everything is faster, smaller, more efficient and of course, more interactive than ever before. Personalised education could be the biggest change to teaching and learning for many decades. It has the potential to re-engage theinterest of thousands of unmotivated teenagers. It means taking a highly structured and responsive approach to each child’s and young person’s learning, in order that all are able to progress, achieve and participate, there by strengthening the link between learning and teaching by engaging pupils in learning. Web 2.0 could be the best engine to do so!
This issue of Digital Learning has illustrated some of the routes by which schools can act centres of empowered, collaborative learning and provide practical guidance as to how this is already beginning to be achieved that for the globally interconnected citizens of the present day ICT is redefining learning. Some of the approaches that schools might want to consider include, providing interventions earlier to prevent children falling behind, making greater use of teaching practices that support personalisation such as assessment for learning, or more imaginative ways of setting and grouping, etc.
Through and through our gradual march from Education 1.0 to Education 2.0, we keep hoping that soon there will be a complete immersive virtual learning environment that is more user-controlled, a true read, write, execute web or probably the Education 3.0! We will also try to capture some such visions, views, and viabilities on ‘Education Tomorrow’ in our forthcoming issue, which will be released at the eINDIA2007 forum, the largest platform for knowledge sharing on ICTs for Development. We look forward to seeing you in eINDIA2007 and teaming up with you in our journey towards Education 3.0.
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